Teacher Meeting accomplished

Well, we had our meeting with the teacher last week. It went well, I think. She did admit that because Son is so quiet she often won't notice that he isn't doing his desk work until the time is up and she sees his empty or doodled worksheet. She said she will be making an effort to check in on him sooner and not let herself be distracted so much by the louder rowdy kids. She now realizes that Son is just as frustrated as they are, just showing it in a different way. We talked about different ways that Son shows his frustration and how we deal with it at home, hopefully she will remember to look for those signs. His situation will be mentioned at the next meeting she has with the teacher resources to get more ideas on how to help him succeed.

She admitted that he had gone into the cloakroom that day a few times and she hadn't noticed until one of the other kids told her. She seemed embarrassed about that, and she should be. We told her that he uses 'hiding' as a way to avoid things he doesn't want to do. She will keep an eye on that and use similar language as what we are using at home when talking him out of the cloakroom. The good thing is that the kids in the class aren't making fun of him, they were concerned as to why he was in there and tried to help him themselves before going to get the teacher. This seems like a very supportive group of 6 & 7 year olds.

I really hope something comes out of all of this. I don't want him to be left behind or forgotten because he is quiet and well behaved. I won't accept 'he so young' as a reason for him not doing the work in class. I won't let him be left behind.

Something a little concerning that I discovered during the meeting is that he tested into the lowest possible levels in both reading areas that he was assessed for. This is the kid who can read 'early reader' books from the library and is sounding out words so wonderfully when working on the Set 3 "Word Families" Bob Books. It just goes to show how different things are in the classroom vs home. I think the more confident he gets at school the better he will do. In theory he should 'progress' very quickly once he learns what they want to hear. :)

I got some good news today around these issues. While talking to the teacher, after taking Son to school, she mentioned that since our meeting he has been listening more and not resisting going for 'floor time' or other activities as much. He isn't asking "why" he has to leave his current activity right then; he's getting into the routine of the class. He seems to be more aware that we talk and all want him to participate in the class work so that he can learn. This makes me very happy.

I'm still planning to sign him up for Time4Learning, it will give him some extra reading and math practice. He enjoys doing educational games on the computer so I think this will be a good compromise for those days when he wants to watch a movie instead of playing with his toys. Considering they have a special on until November 30th where you get full access for $20 over 2 months instead of $20/month, this is a good time to try it out. We will be able to see how he deals with it over the Christmas break too.